Senior Congress leaders Venugopal, Ajay Maken and Ashok Gehlot had on Wednesday took stock of the preparations for the Chintan Shivir.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday met ministers from the state at his residence in Lucknow to discuss the upcoming assembly bypolls in 10 constituencies.
A group of Congress leaders have written to Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi to warn party leaders and state ministers, who are weighing in for the chief minister's post, in the event of leadership change in Karnataka.
Sibal said the party had not been an effective alternative in Bihar for a long time.
A sulking former external affairs minister S M Krishna, who was recently made a permanent invitee of the Congress working committee, will skip the party's Chintan Shivir in Jaipur this week.
In a setback to the BJP ahead of the November 30 assembly polls in Telangana, former MP G Vivek Venkataswamy resigned from the party and joined the Congress in the presence of AICC former president Rahul Gandhi in Hyderabad.
Trump is confident the US will eventually emerge the winner from whatever turmoil his policies cause, notes T T Ram Mohan.
The UP Congress reportedly passed a resolution demanding action against Prasada, a leader from Uttar Pradesh, and has accused his family of being against the Gandhi family.
With the Lok Sabha elections schedule set to be announced soon, party vice-president Rahul Gandhi will be holding consultations with senior party leaders on Friday at an informal meeting of the Congress Working Committee. Renu Mittal reports
Thapar had strong reservations about Project Cheetah, India's initiative to reintroduce African cheetahs into the wild. He argued that India does not have the necessary habitat or prey base to support free-ranging cheetahs and that the authorities lacked experience in managing spotted felines in the wild.
The Congress had 31 MLA and needed as many votes to win the Rajya Sabha seat from Haryana, but one of its legislators cross-voted and another's vote was cancelled.
As the debate over the issue of leadership raged, another group of leaders put their weight behind the Gandhi family on Sunday, calling for Sonia Gandhi to stay or Rahul Gandhi to take charge again.
The BJP registered emphatic victories in seven municipal corporations in Haryana, while its nominees were leading in two other civic bodies in the recently held elections. The Congress, which was hoping to improve its electoral fortunes after a defeat in the 2024 Assembly polls, suffered another setback. The BJP candidates won with large margins in Faridabad, Gurugram, Hisar, Karnal, Rohtak, Sonipat, and Ambala. The BJP was also leading in Yamunanagar and Panipat. In Manesar, an Independent candidate, Inderjeet Yadav, won the mayoral election. The results are seen as a major setback for the Congress, which has been facing internal turmoil and factionalism.
Speaking at the concluding day of the three-day brainstorming session, Chintan Shivir, in Udaipur, Sonia Gandhi said, "We will launch a national Kanyakumari to Kashmir Bharat Jodo Yatra beginning on Gandhi Jayanti this year. All of us will participate in it."
The Congress needs to reorganise itself at the grassroots, infuse younger blood, and have more boots on the ground. Just offering freebies is not the answer anymore. Leadership matters, asserts Ramesh Menon.
P Chidambaram proposed that Sonia should be made the party's interim president.
'Rahul Gandhi never gets firsthand information. He does not know what is good or bad going on in the party.'
In a major organisational rejig ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress on Saturday appointed Avinash Pande the general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, replacing Priyanka Gandhi Vadra while Sachin Pilot was made the general secretary in-charge of Chhattisgarh.
The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025 was passed in the Lok Sabha early Thursday, with 288 members supporting it and 232 against it.
As the Centre announced the inclusion of caste enumeration in the next census on Wednesday, opposition parties said it is a victory for their long-standing demand and sought time-bound implementation.
Even though it was stated that no action would be taken against the senior leaders who had written to Sonia Gandhi, they say that the retaliation had already begun, reports Aditi Phadnis
The meeting also includes some of Sonia Gandhi's close associates and is the first effort by the Congress leadership for a reproachment with those who raised questions over the leadership.
Samandar Patel, 52, an Other Backward Classes leader from Jawad area of Neemuch, had joined the BJP when Scindia and MLAs loyal to him rebelled against the Congress in March 2020, leading to the collapse of the Kamal Nath government.
The grand old party is looking to retain power in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh while seeking to come to power in the other three states going to polls -- Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Mizoram.
Even partymen are skeptical of Rahul's chances of changing the party's fortunes in Uttar Pradesh.
In the wake of the recent hostilities, both sides have moved from weapons to words, with India dispatching several delegations to visit more than 30 capitals across the world. A similar effort by Pakistan is set to start on Jun 2.
The youngest in the CWC is 31-year-old Neeraj Kundan, who is an ex-officio member of the body as the president of the National Students Union of India, the students' wing of the party.
The Congress had convened a meeting of its Lok Sabha members to evolve the party's strategy in the lower house of Parliament on Wednesday.
Sources said they will discuss the party's poor performance at the hustings and will evolve their future strategy.
Kanugolu had also made forays in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh following a directive from the party's central leadership but regional satraps Ashok Gehlot and Kamal Nath reportedly were not on the same page as the poll strategist.
'If you fight you win, if you don't fight, how will you win?'
After the party's near washout in assembly polls, the demand for a overhaul is growing with spokesman Abhishek Singhvi arguing for younger state leaders.
Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao-led Bharat Rashtra Samiti has pinned hopes on the development work his government undertook during the past ten years, while opposition Congress and BJP bank on anti-incumbency and the alleged failures of the incumbent.
Four-time Odisha MP Pinaki Misra's wedding to firebrand TMC MP Mahua Moitra in a quiet, intimate ceremony that chose privacy and tradition over fanfare, was a reflection of his personal style.
All-party parliamentary delegations on Monday met with the leaders of several countries and highlighted India's resolve to combat terrorism, which they stressed must be eradicated in the interests of all humanity.
A meeting of the Congress Working Committee, to be held on August 19, is scheduled to discuss price rise and drought. But Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has already held intensive discussions with chief ministers from across India and senior ministers in his Cabinet on drought, price rise and the measures that need to be taken by the government to minimise the effects of drought.It was initially decided that the CWC would be held last week.
The Congress president also announced that a compact task force will be set up to drive the process of internal reforms that are essential.
Six Indian American leaders were sworn in as members of the US House of Representatives, marking the largest number of Indian American representatives in the US Congress. The group includes Congressman Dr Ami Bera, who has served seven consecutive terms, and newcomers Suhash Subramanian and Shri Thanedar. The six lawmakers, all Democrats, represent a significant milestone for the Indian American community in the US.
The Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital in Pune, India, has stopped taking deposits from patients at the emergency department after a pregnant woman died after being turned away for non-payment. The hospital faced intense criticism following the incident, which involved the wife of a BJP MLC's personal secretary. The woman was shifted to another hospital where she died after delivering twins.
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi along with the five other Congress MPs from Uttar Pradesh will visit violence-hit Sambhal on Wednesday, party's state unit chief Ajay Rai said.
